1 . Joseph Conrad, a famous English novelist, said that his goal as a writer was “to make you hear, to make you feel, and above all, to make you see. That, and no more, is everything.”     1     Often it leaves a single sharp impression to be turned over and over in the mind. After finishing the story, the reader should have something to think about: the humor of life, its ironies, or the unpredictability of human behavior.

    2     The first and most obvious level is conveyed through the plot. Plot refers to the sequence of events, to the actions of the characters and the situations in which they are involved. To explain the plot, then, is to tell what happened in the story and to whom. In some short stories, plot is the dominating element. In other short stories, plot plays a very minor role.

In Hemingway’s story, The Old Man and the Sea, however, we must approach the content on another level.     3     To understand and appreciate the story, the reader must be able to identify its general topic or theme. The next step is to identify the device by which the author comments on this theme.     4    

Readers cannot appreciate a short story fully unless they react not only to what has been said but also to how it has been said.     5     Style grows out of the writer’s own personality and can be seen in the choice of words and phrases, the arrangement of sentences, the rhythm and tone. Structure refers to the architecture of the story, the way in which the details are selected and arranged to produce the desired effect.

A．They must look for style and structure.

B．In complex stories, careful readers may not always agree with the author.

C．The impact on the reader comes from the sudden and unexpected response.

D．A good short story tries to give the reader a sense of the actual experience.

E．Finally, the reader should be able to explain the insights which the author has given into the theme.

F．The impact of the story comes from the insight it gives us into the needs and desires of youth and old age.

G．In order to read a short story with full understanding, the reader must approach the content on two levels.

2 . Sometimes a book comes along that isn’t just “interesting” or “well done”— it’s a book where it seems like the author looked into your brain and wrote a book specifically for you. A book like that for me was released this week. It’s called 100 Things We’ve Lost to the Internet, written by editor Pamela Paul.

Paul lists 100 things we used to do that the Internet has either changed or taken over completely: writing letters, print newspapers, the joys of being bored, and not having all the knowledge in the world in your pocket.

As I’m a longtime accumulator of random knowledge, certain entries on the list—Being the Only One, Figuring Out Who That Actor is—hit me where live; remembering detailed facts is no longer   nearly as impressive when everyone has the capability to find the answer in seconds.

On and on the list goes, with every minor shift adding to the pile. What this book does so well is illustrate the growth of that pile; while any individual item might be no big deal, the collected set is significant. It’s a list of ways in which the world now is different from the world then.

Obviously, Paul isn’t saying that everything back then was better. Time marches on, after all. and it’s tough to argue against the many benefits that the Internet has brought into our lives. But that isn’t really the point. It’s not about whether it used to be better. It’s that it used to be different.

100 Things We’ve Lost to the Internet is a fun read for those of us who share some of Paul’s memories and experiences. We remember what it was like and we like to remember. The landscape has shifted, and no doubt it will shift again as technology’s advancement continues apace. This book serves as a reminder of the simple truth that when gains are made, sometimes something is lost.

1. What is the purpose of the text?

A．To review and recommend a good read.

B．To comment on the effect of the Internet.

C．To argue for the viewpoint of a new book.

D．To urge the readers to value what they have.

2. Which might be entries on Paul’s list?

A．Maps and Eye Contact.

B．E-pay and Compact Disks.

C．Postcards and Homeschooling

D．Bad Photos and Washing Machines.

3. What does the underlined phrase “hit me where l live” in paragraph 3 mean?

A．Prove what I’m good at.

B．Introduce how I grew up.

C．Describe the place I live in.

D．Speak out what is on my mind.

4. What conclusion has the author drawn after reading Paul’s book?

A．Things in the past are better.

B．There’re no gains without pains.

C．The internet is a double-edged sword.

D．Technology is constantly changing the world.

3 . Every year, Barnes & Noble picks the 10 best books of the year, covering all genres and age groups. If you’re looking for an amazing book to grab before the end of 2021, here are some of the best books of the year.

Cloud Cuckoo Land

This novel is both a historical and futuristic science fiction story that connects five characters across hundreds of years through their relationship to a book: “Cloud Cuckoo Land.” The book they find is about a shepherd named Aethon, who longs to be turned into a bird, so he can live a carefree life forever. As each character finds this book, from a l5th century kid to a young teen on a futuristic interstellar ship, their stories meet in this complex yet fascinating read.

Crying in H Mart

When Michelle Zauner was 25, her mother s cancer changed her life forever and forced her to accept her Korean American identity in a desperate attempt to stay connected to her mother. As a talented musician, Michelle had previously been divorced from her cultural roots, but quickly turned to food to keep her mother's memory alive in this powerful and heartbreaking memoir.

Pony

It is a historical, middle-grade adventure novel intended for adolescents. It talks about a 12-year-old boy named Silas who is woken in the middle of the night to see his father being taken away by three horsemen. With only his horse named Pony by his side, Silas sets off on a life-changing mission to find his father.

You Will Get Through This Night

It is a nonfiction read about mental health that offers both a personal and professional outlook on how to survive the hardest mental health days. Dividing the book into three chapters — This Night, Tomorrow, and The Days After — Daniel Howell wants readers to not just survive the hard nights but properly care for our mental health.

1. What do Cloud Cuckoo Land and Pony have in common?

A．Plot.

B．Literary form.

C．Characters.

D．Writing background.

2. Which book is specially designed for teenagers?

A．Cloud Cuckoo Land.	B．Crying in H Mart.
C．Pony.	D．You Will Get Through This Night.

3. What is the feature of You Will Get Through This Night?

A．It is about psychological health.	B．It helps cure physical disabilities.
C．It is a collection of personal stories.	D．It mainly solves sleeping problems.

4 . On today’s blog post, I’ll be talking about my favorite magazines. I love reading books & magazines, and I’m learning so many useful tips about healthy living, daily life, etc.

Women’s Health

Women’s Health has a unique content. You can find various interesting information about healthy living or exercises you can do at home. I also love their writers because they explain every topic so simple that you can even understand biological articles.

Healthy Food Guide

I totally recommend it to everyone because it has lots of useful information about being healthy during your daily life. In this magazine, you can find articles about foods you often eat but don’t have much idea what it contains or if they’re healthy. If you are searching for new diets, this magazine gives you all the information.

Time Out

Time Out is a well-known magazine and it’s free in my city. Every time I see a Time Out magazine, I get it because it has lots of useful tips. I got Time Out London when I was in London, and I discovered new restaurants, galleries, museums, and events. This magazine has various information about the city life. For example, it gives you the events that are happening near you. It gives you tips for the railway stations and other transportation choices.

La Cucina Italiana

If you love cooking Italian food, this magazine is for you! It has lots of recipes and also restaurant reviews. You can also find popular restaurants near you in this magazine. I’ve also read articles by famous chefs from my city.

1. What can we find in Healthy Food Guide?

A．Ways to keep fit.	B．Tips on cooking.
C．Different eating habits.	D．Information of new restaurants.

2. What can we read to find comments on restaurants?

A．Time Out.

B．Women’s Health.

C．Healthy Food Guide.

D．La Cucina Italiana.

3. What can we learn about the author?

A．He lives in London.	B．He loves and enjoys life.
C．He often goes travelling.	D．He likes collecting recipes.

5 . From the ancient Chinese stories, to the stories in the medieval cathedrals（中世纪的教堂）in the west, it is perfectly clear that there is strong pleasure and meaning to gain from stories told through images or pictures. People are lucky enough to have had books with both pictures and words when they were children.    1    .

After the world wars, the cheap books without pictures were everywhere and it made reading books illustrated with pictures for adults a very luxurious thing. Somehow, pictures had also come to seem childish or strange.    2    Just as the ever-increasing popularity of the graphic novel（连环画小说）suggests, works both words and pictures are regarded as classics.

    3    In fact the former develops from the latter. Early writing systems such as those in Egypt and China: things in the world were expressed in written form by drawing special pictures.       4    In some languages, the sound associated with an image are separated from its original meaning.

What is the use of a book without pictures? Very little, it turns out, particularly if we consider that pictures are buried within the very symbols used to write words. As for a picture book for adults, author Tokarczuk sweeps away all doubts. She adores the picture book.    5    This kind of story is able to get through to anyone – regardless of age, cultural differences or level of education. It’s hard to disagree.

A．Because it is hard to read books with pictures.

B．And yet readers love stories told through pictures.

C．However, words and pictures are not always connected.

D．Text and picture, after all, are not so far apart.

E．For her it is a powerful, old way of telling a story.

F．Adults are thought foolish to read such books.

G．They often remember the pictures as clearly as the words.

6 . Could J. K. Rowling please leave Harry Potter in peace? 2010 was a good time to move on. We all know that Harry Potter’s last adventures hit the bookstore in 2007, and three years later the Warner Bros adaptations ran their course in cinema, too. For many fans, the young wizard had worked his magic through most of their childhood. But in 2018, a new Harry Potter extended universe film, Fantastic Beasts: The Crime of Grindelwald, was out.

I love Harry Potter series and I always will. It’s all there in my memory: I remember the first delight at reading “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal”. The wizarding treasure hunt, thrown by my parents for my ninth birthday with my dad dressed as Hagrid in the garden, was so clear in my mind. I remember deciphering (破译) my copy of the Deathly Hallows, the first book I read in English, and having to check the French for “wand”. The 2001 trip to the cinema to see Philosopher’s Stone, and all the ones that followed are kept clearly.

However, someone needs to call a halt to the endless afterlife of Potter’s fictional universe. It was enough in the seven books and eight films. We didn’t and don’t need a community website, a theatre play, the printed script of said movie, and even more movies.

Rowling has created 21^st-century modern literary classic. I always look up to her as the textbook classy writer: respectfully drawing attention from readers, successful but wise enough to withdraw. She also cares much about the causes she holds dear. In 2011 alone, she donated 16% of her net worth to charities. Of all contemporary authors who hit gold, Rowling remains one of the very most inspirational.

The saddest thing is that Rowling helped with the writing of the Cursed Child. She regularly “revealed” new details about Potter’s magical world on Twitter. Today, I decided to give up: I don’t follow Rowling on Twitter. I don’t want to see the new film. Thank you, Joanne Kathleen Rowling. I have enough valued stories—I don’t need new ones any more.

1. The last book of Harry Potter series was published in ______ .

A．2007

B．2010

C．2011

D．2017

2. We can learn from Paragraph 2 that the author ______ .

A．felt rather easy to understand Harry Potter series

B．was quiet fond of Harry Potter series and its films

C．read Harry Potter series with the help of his parents

D．missed the time of watching Harry Potter movies with his parents

3. What does the underlined phrase “call a halt to” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Share.

B．Appreciate.

C．Stop.

D．Change.

4. What does Paragraph 4 mainly talk about?

A．The talent J. K. Rowling has.

B．The author’s praise for J. K. Rowling.

C．The influence of J. K. Rowling’s works.

D．The author’s expectations of J. K. Rowling.

7 . It's the most wonderful time of the year! The winter holidays are the perfect chance to get comfortable with a good book, and luckily we have some best sellers right now. We're sure you'll find what you're looking for.

Sunday Funday by Katherine Hallgan

Hardback, $20 (10 percent off with membership)

A great book full of seasonal activities that families and friends can enjoy together. From gardening projects to creative hand-made things and warming winter recipes (食谱), there's something for everyone, whatever the weather.

The History of the World in 100 Animals by Simon Barnes

Hardback, $16.99

This beautifully pictured book explores the good relationship between humans and animals, from bees to chimpanzees (黑猩猩) who share more than 90% of our DNA. If you are crazy about animals, this is the book for you.

Accidentally Famous by David Baddiel

Paperback, $12.99

Nothing amazing ever happens to Billy Smith but when TV workers visit his school he becomes popular, but as everyone knows, being famous comes with a price. David Baddiel's laugh-out-loud book asks what life would be like if everyone suddenly knew your name.

Eddie Albert and the Animal Gang by Paul O'Grady

Paperback, $15

This action-filled adventure from TV favourite Paul O'Grady follows a young boy with a very special gift—he can talk to animals! On a trip to Amsterdam, Eddie meets a monkey in danger and rescues the young creature with the help of his animal friends.

1. What is the member price for Sunday Funday?

A．$20.

B．$19.

C．$18.

D．$10.

2. Which book is about the price of being famous?

A．Sunday Funday.	B．Eddie Albert and the Animal Cang.
C．Accidentally Famous.	D．The History of the World in 100 Animals.

3. What do the books by Simon Barnes and Paul O'Grady have in common?

A．They are published in hardback.	B．They stress harmony with animals.
C．They are full of beautiful pictures.	D．They speak of famous TV persons.

8 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

There are several qualities of literature. One of them is its description of     1    (true) and beauty. Some truth and beauty remain unnoticed     2    a sensitive human soul brings them to our attention. A hundred men may pass a field and     3    (see) only dead grass; but a poet stops, looks deeper, sees truth and beauty, and writes. “Yesterday’s flowers am I.” One     4    (read) it is capable of seeing the beauty that     5    (hide) from his eyes before. Another quality is its appeal to our feelings and imagination. Its attraction lies     6    (much) in what it awakens in us than what it says. When Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus asks in     7    presence of Helen, “Was this the face that launched a thousand ships?” he opens a door through     8    our imagination enters a new world, a world of love, beauty and     9    (hero). In general, literature is the written record of man’s     10    (think) and feelings, and the history of the human soul.

9 . This year we had kids and caregivers in mind. So here are some favorite books for kids picked by readers and expert judges to while away the hours at home.

The Snowy Day

－by Ezra Jack Keats

One morning, a little boy in Brooklyn wakes up to a changed world - shining with fresh snowfall. Young Peter is black.Author and illustrator Ezra Jack Keats was white,but his sensitive description of a child's first experience with snow won the Caldecott Medal and was embraced by parents and children of all colors. (For ages 0 to 2)

Dreamers

－by Yuyi Morales

Yuyi Morales was born in Mexico and came to America with her baby boy in 1999. She builds that experience into a poetic praise for the immigrant experience - for learning a new life and language and for the dreams, hopes and talents immigrants bring to the USA.(For ages 4 to 8)

Hidden Figures

－by Margot Lee Shetterly and Laura Freeman

Margot Lee Shetterly adapts her groundbreaking book about Black female mathematicians at NASA for young readers, with illustrations by Laura Freeman. A great pick for any future mathematician or astronaut.(For ages 4 to 8)

Wells&Wong Mysteries

－by Robin Stevens

Best friends Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong do what any ambitious young women at boarding school would do: They form a detective agency and quickly run up against their first real case when Hazel finds the body of their science teacher on the gymnasium floor.

(For ages 10 and up)

1. Which writer is an award winner?

A．Ezra Jack Keats.	B．Yuyi Morales.
C．Margot Lee Shetterly.	D．Robin Stevens.

2. Which book is suitable for those who love detective stories?

A．The Snowy Day.	B．Dreamers.
C．Hidden Figures.	D．Wells &Wong Mysteries.

3. What do Dreamers and Hidden Figures have in common?

A．The way they are created.	B．The authors’ experiences.
C．The ages of the potential readers.	D．The theme they try to convey.

10 . Suddenly we heard the sound of a carriage. It was the two Lintons, Hindley, Frances and Catherine. They all ran into the house and stood in front of the large fire in the sitting room to get warm.

I told Heathcliff to go and join them. He opened the kitchen door as Hindley was coming out of the sitting room. When Hindley saw him, he pushed him back into the kitchen saying, “Joseph! Keep him away from the sitting room!”

Then he noticed Heathcliff’s nice clothes. “Look at you!” he said sneering. “Who do you want to impress? Get out or I’ll pull your hair until it’s longer than it is now!”

“It’s long enough already,” observed Edgar Linton. He was standing at the sitting room door. “It hangs over his eyes like a horse’s mane!” Edgar didn’t say this to insult Heathcliff but Heathcliff became violent immediately. He suddenly picked up a pan of hot apple sauce and threw the contents in Edgar’s face. Edgar screamed. Hearing her brother’s cries, Isabella, followed by Catherine, came running out. Hindley caught Heathcliff by the arm, took him to his room and gave him a beating.

I didn’t have much pity for Edgar but I cleaned his face. His sister was crying and wanted to go home. Catherine was confused and embarrassed and didn’t say anything.

Hindley came back and told the children to return to the sitting room and have their dinner. As soon as they saw the food on the table they forgot everything because they were hungry. I looked at Catherine. Her eyes were dry as she cut her meat.

“What an insensitive child,” I thought. “She doesn’t really care about Heathcliff.”

I watched her lift the meat to her mouth and then suddenly her eyes filled with tears. To hide her feelings, she dropped her fork on the floor and bent down to pick it up. So she wasn’t as insensitive as I thought!

Some musicians came to play for us in the evening. While everyone was listening to them, Catherine escaped and climbed the stairs to Heathcliff’s room. She called him but there was no answer so she climbed along the roof and into his room through a small window. Later they came downstairs to the kitchen together. I gave Heathcliff some supper but he didn’t eat it.

“I don’t care how long I have to wait, Nelly,” he said, “but I’m going to take my revenge on Hindley. I only hope he doesn’t die first!”

“Heathcliff!” I said. “You should learn to forgive.”

“No! I must have satisfaction,” he replied. “I’m going to think of a good way to take my revenge. If I think about that, I won’t feel the pain.”

1. What do we know about Hindley from the text?

A．He assumed Heathcliff would hurt the kids.

B．He hated Heathcliff as he had nicer clothes.

C．He didn’t see Heathcliff as a family member.

D．He pushed Edgar Linton to insult Heathcliff.

2. What does the underlined word “insensitive” in paragraph 7 mean?

A．Not able to tell right from wrong.

B．Not caring about other peopled feelings.

C．Not affected by physical effects of changes.

D．Not clever enough to make quick responses.

3. Why did Catherine bend down during dinner?

A．She dropped her fork on the floor by accident.

B．She was trying to wipe away her tears secretly.

C．She felt rather bored to eat with those children.

D．She knew she was being observed by someone.

4. What can we infer from the text?

A．Heathcliff occupied an important place in Catherine’s heart.

B．Heathcliff used to being laughed at by other kids.

C．Isabella was very angry to see his brother badly injured.

D．Nelly took pity on Heathcliff and supported his revenge.